Navigating a Difficult Mentor-Student Relationship

[desA]

If Dr.X comes from the Asian region, then I would fully understand his academic myopia. The prevailing thought process is generally one of completing the 'research process' towards post-grad qualifications, as distinct from searching for novel, original thought.

They tend to rope the folks into a straight-jacket without giving them space to explore before specialising. This is distinct from European/US models.

It becomes very, very difficult to unhitch from the clutches of such supervisors.

 

[unit_circle]

I guess you can't post the guy's web details, so we can have a look?

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Could you clarify?

If Dr.X comes from the Asian region, then I would fully understand his academic myopia. The prevailing thought process is generally one of completing the 'research process' towards post-grad qualifications, as distinct from searching for novel, original thought.

desA, good read! Dr. X is from S. Korea.

 

[J77]

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Could you clarify?

So we can see what his publications are like, eg. has he published papers in top-flight journals, or loads of papers in low impact factor/obscure journals/conferences.

desA, good read! Dr. X is from S. Korea.

That was clear from his use of English

 

[unit_circle]

So we can see what his publications are like, eg. has he published papers in top-flight journals, or loads of papers in low impact factor/obscure journals/conferences.

I don't know how I can post that info w/o revealing his identity. I'm pretty careful about making remarks about someone else's professional abilities in a archived public forum. I don't want my posts to haunt me sometime in the future. If you have an idea on how I can post Dr. X's CV w/o revealing Dr. X's identity let me know.

 

[TMFKAN64]

I don't know how I can post that info w/o revealing his identity. I'm pretty careful about making remarks about someone else's professional abilities in a archived public forum. I don't want my posts to haunt me sometime in the future. If you have an idea on how I can post Dr. X's CV w/o revealing Dr. X's identity let me know.

Don't even *think* about doing it. Really. Nothing good could possibly come out of it for you, and a world of hurt is quite possible.

 

[unit_circle]

Don't even *think* about doing it. Really. Nothing good could possibly come out of it for you, and a world of hurt is quite possible.

Yeah, I agree. I will just say that Dr. X published quite a few papers as a grad student and postdoc (Nature Materials, Review of Scientific Instruments, Langmuir, etc), but has done very little since joining our university in fall 2004. I think his lack of leadership and management skills are crippling him as a PI, and hence he is not producing very much. He seems to do great work under the supervision of others, but can't produce when he is the big cheese.

 

[Pythagorean]

Yeah, I agree. I will just say that Dr. X published quite a few papers as a grad student and postdoc (Nature Materials, Review of Scientific Instruments, Langmuir, etc), but has done very little since joining our university in fall 2004. I think his lack of leadership and management skills are crippling him as a PI, and hence he is not producing very much. He seems to do great work under the supervision of others, but can't produce when he is the big cheese.

I work at a research library. That's enough information to find an author if I know what university you're at, especially with the journal name dropping. Just a heads up.

 

[unit_circle]

I started this thread during the summer time. I have now found a new adviser/mentor to do research with in my department who is pretty much the polar opposite of my previous one. The difference is amazing, and I'm finally excited about physics research again. I just wanted to thank everyone for their advice. I followed it and was able to make the transition from one prof to the other without any bad feelings. In fact my new adviser encourages students to try as many different things as possible as an undergrad; contrast this with my previous adviser who was hell-bent on keeping all of his students in biophysics. I just wanted to thank everyone out there for helping with my situation.

 

[Checkfate]

Glad everything worked out for you. I read your thread and it sounded like you were doomed for a bit there. :P